Bringing the World to your Kitchen

Potato Musaka

Every once in a while we need chow down on good, ol’ fashioned home cooking. The kind that reminds us of mom, checkered aprons, and creaky kitchen chairs.

We all need this edible comfort, especially when the wind chill drops down into the single digits.

Keith informed me that, against all odds, I happened upon one such recipe when I selected Potato Musaka for our Serbian Global Table.

“This is kind of like my mom’s ‘Hobo dinner,'” Mr Picky said, after his first taste.

“Hobo what?” I asked, brow furrowed.

I need not have worried. Clearly this was a good thing; he forked bite after bite of the layered potatoes and ground pork into his mouth, working quickly, looking more like a teenager than a 40-something who generally shows more restraint around food than I can fathom.

After scraping his plate clean, he went back for seconds.

Then thirds.

He’s in good company. Potato Musaka is much beloved in the Balkans, especially in Serbia. She’s quite similar to her somewhat sloppier cousin, Eggplant Moussaka which can be found all over Greece (and originates from there, too). A yogurt and egg mixture bind together the real superstars: gently fried onion, ground pork, and potatoes.

The sweet spot is that it contains your meat, potatoes, and dairy, so the only other dish you need to prepare is your veggie.

It’s a comfort food quilt.

Direct from one mama to another.

P.S. Learn from my mistakes. The casserole pictured above was made immediately after assembly. The one below was refrigerated overnight, then baked. The taste was still good, but the yogurt mixture separated and certainly doesn’t win any beauty pageants.

Once you settle in, brown the onions in the olive oil. Add in the meat, salt and pepper. Continue to cook through until your house smells amazing. Remove from heat and set aside.

Next, preheat the oven to 400F and slide some olive oil over on the bottom of a casserole. Cover the bottom with two layers of sliced potatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then spoon on the meat mixture. Sneak a few nibbles of the browned bits at the bottom of the pan.

Yum.

Next, add another double layer of sliced potatoes.

You’re almost done, my friend!

Mix together the eggs, yogurt, milk, salt, and pepper. Be sure to use plenty of salt, as the potatoes really soak it up.

Pour the topping into the casserole, stopping when the yogurt mixture stops just shy of covering the top layer (see below). Depending on the size of your casserole, you may have a few tablespoons left over, or you may use it all.

By keeping the top layer of potatoes exposed, they brown up beautifully.

Bake about an hour, or until the potatoes are tender and beginning to brown (you can check them with a knife to be sure).

If you want the casserole even browner, place it under the broiler for a few moments until crispy and bubbling as desired. I’ve seen some that looked like terra cotta potato chips.

Let cool for a few moments before slicing and serving.

Maybe watch a few clouds roll by while you wait…

Zaovine Lake. Photo by Дуална лиценца.

Enjoy, my friends.

If you need me, I’ll be floating on that puffy, white cloud in the center.

TGIF.

Potato Musaka

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Potato Musaka is much beloved in the Balkans, especially in Serbia. She’s quite similar to her somewhat sloppier cousin, Eggplant Moussaka which can be found all over Greece (and originates from there, too). A yogurt and egg mixture bind together the real superstars: gently fried onion, ground pork, and potatoes.
The sweet spot is that it contains your meat, potatoes, and dairy, so the only other dish you need to prepare is your veggie.

Potato Musaka is much beloved in the Balkans, especially in Serbia. She’s quite similar to her somewhat sloppier cousin, Eggplant Moussaka which can be found all over Greece (and originates from there, too). A yogurt and egg mixture bind together the real superstars: gently fried onion, ground pork, and potatoes.
The sweet spot is that it contains your meat, potatoes, and dairy, so the only other dish you need to prepare is your veggie.

Once you settle in, brown the onions in the olive oil. Add in the meat, salt and pepper. Continue to cook through until your house smells amazing. Remove from heat and set aside.

Next, preheat the oven to 400F and slide some olive oil over on the bottom of a casserole. Cover the bottom with two layers of sliced potatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then spoon on the meat mixture. Sneak a few nibbles of the browned bits at the bottom of the pan.

Next, add another double layer of sliced potatoes. Mix together the eggs, yogurt, milk, salt, and pepper. Be sure to use plenty of salt, as the potatoes really soak it up.

Pour the topping into the casserole, stopping when the yogurt mixture stops just shy of covering the top layer (see below). Depending on the size of your casserole, you may have a few tablespoons left over, or you may use it all.
By keeping the top layer of potatoes exposed, they brown up beautifully.

Bake about an hour, or until the potatoes are tender and beginning to brown (you can check them with a knife to be sure).

If you want the casserole even browner, place it under the broiler for a few moments until crispy and bubbling as desired. I've seen some that looked like terra cotta potato chips.
Let cool for a few moments before slicing and serving.

20 Comments

I am really enjoying your posts this week! My former mother-in-law used to make this exact version of musaka, so I bet she was cooking right from her family recipes. It is a delicious, comforting meal indeed!

I think I’ll send a link of your Serbia round up to my ex-husband, he will definitely enjoy reading it!

How fun! As I looked around, it seemed like there wasn’t much variation to the recipes… except perhaps to use sour cream instead of yogurt… I thought I might see some with garlic, but didn’t. It’s great just like this 🙂

Hey, Im not a big fan of pork..wonder if turkey or beef would work ..Im sure it would but I quess it wouldnt be very serbia’ish…..I think donovan would like this..as long as we dont tell him about the yogurt..LOL <3 love and hugs

What gorgeous photos! I never knew what musaka was, and I thought if it’s that hard to pronounce, it must be intimidating to make. But I was wrong! I love potatoes au gratin and I will definitely have to try this recipe. Thanks for sharing!

Oh! My! I made this as a dish to take to someone recovering from an illness and also made one for us. This is so easy to make and more comforting than a bowl of mac n cheese!!! This will be in regular rotation in our house. Thank you for sharing.

Made this tonight and it was amazing! My picky 8 yr old son even ate it and liked it. The only thing I added was a bit of Hungarian paprika to the egg and yogurt mixture as I wanted a little more flavor.

I’m Serbian. This was a flash back to Mom’s cooking (she’s 97 now but doesn’t cook.) Two things I caught: when I went to print this out, it was going to print all 21 pages (Yikes!) When I copied & pasted just the recipe on the bottom, it didn’t include the ingredients for the topping. Just a little heads up for others. BTW, I added some garlic to the meat & paprika to the top layer for flavor and color. Yummy!

Vera – so glad you got to try the recipe. Your version sounds lovely (can’t get enough paprika!) Thanks for letting me know about the topping ingredients – I updated the recipe. There is also a small “print” button next to the star rating on the recipe – that way you don’t have to copy it into word or anything. Cheers!

This is exactly what I’m looking for! I’ve never made musaka before, but my mom has. She is from Montenegro, which is right next to Serbia, and the funny thing is, instead of using yogurt/milk, she uses a tomato based sauce. My Dad is from Southern Italy, and I wonder if this is her bridging both of those cultures, or if there is an alternate Serbian/Balkan version with tomato sauce instead of dairy? Thank you so much, looking forward to making this!